Early political career (1796–1817)

Washington and Adams administrations

John Quincy Adams, age 29

Adams initially won national recognition when he published a series of articles supporting Washington's decision to keep America out of the growing hostilities surrounding the French Revolution.^[5] Soon after, George Washington appointed Adams, age 26, minister to the Netherlands in 1793. He preferred his quiet life of reading in Massachusetts, but yielded to his father's persuasion to take it. On his way to the Netherlands, he delivered a set of documents to John Jay, who was negotiating the Jay Treaty; after spending some time with Jay, Adams wrote home to his father, in support of the emerging treaty, because he thought America should stay out of European affairs. Historian Paul Nagel has noted that this letter ultimately reached Washington, and that parts of it were used by Washington when drafting his farewell address.^[5]
While going back and forth between The Hague and London, he met and proposed to his future wife, Louisa Catherine Johnson. Though he wanted to return to private life at the end of his appointment, Washington named him minister to Portugal in 1796, where he was soon assigned to the Berlin Legation. Though his talents were far greater than his desire to serve, he was finally convinced to remain in public service when he learned how highly Washington regarded his abilities.^[5]

Gilbert Stuart Portrait of Louisa Adams (1821-26)

Washington called Adams "the most valuable of America's officials abroad," and Nagel believes that it was at this time that Adams came to terms with a future of public service.^[5] While abroad, Adams continued to urge neutrality, arguing that the United States would benefit economically by staying out of the ongoing French Revolutionary Wars.^[20]
He became a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1797.^[21] When the elder Adams became president, he appointed his son in 1797 as Minister to Prussia at Washington's urging.^[22] There Adams signed the renewal of the very liberal Prussian-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce after negotiations with Prussian Foreign Minister Count Karl-Wilhelm Finck von Finckenstein. He served at that post until 1801, when Thomas Jefferson took office as president.^[23]
While serving abroad, in 1797 Adams also married Louisa Catherine Johnson, the daughter of a poor American merchant, in a ceremony at the church of All Hallows-by-the-Tower, London. Adams is the first president to marry a first lady born outside of the United States, and this did not recur until President Donald Trump assumed office in 2017, with Melania Trump as first lady.^[24]

Massachusetts politics

On his return to the United States, Adams was appointed a Commissioner of Monetary Affairs in Boston by a Federal District Judge, but this was rescinded by Thomas Jefferson. He again tried his hand as an attorney, but soon entered politics; he was elected a member of the Massachusetts State Senate in April 1802. In November of that same year he ran unsuccessfully as a Federalist for the United States House of Representatives.^[25]
The Massachusetts state legislature, then referred to as the Massachusetts General Court, in 1803 elected Adams as a Federalist to the U.S. Senate, where he served until 1808, at which time he broke with the Federalist Party. Adams as a senator had supported the Louisiana Purchase and Jefferson's Embargo Act, which made him very unpopular with that party. The Federalist-controlled Massachusetts Legislature chose a replacement for Adams on June 3, 1808, several months early. On June 8, Adams renounced his membership in the party, resigned his Senate seat, and became a Republican.^[26]